Untitled
by BlackBirdPie
Summary: Jacob and Bella; what if Edward had left for good, and Bella and Jacob got together...then whoops something real bad happens! M for  possible  later chapters. Review, please, for my sanity.
1. Chapter 1

**OKAY, so this is my first chaptered story, let me know what you think. Like, if I should keep publishing chapters, or just throw my computer into the garbage disposal for writing this schmuck.**

**The usual, I don't own characters, S. Meyer does. Well, I guess I own Rachel, but if someone wants her they can have her. **

**Chapter One**

He had made one promise to himself. That no matter what happened he would stick to his plan, because it would make her happy, and if she was happy then he could be happy too.

He would never hurt her. Not in the same way Edward had, that no matter what happened he would be there for her.

Jacob felt so ashamed with himself. How could he be so unhappy, and so whole at the same time. He was hurting everyone involved.

After Edward had left it had taken Jacob months for Bella to even acknowledge her feelings for him. Now she had, and they were happy, or at least as happy as Bella could be. Which was good enough for him.

But now he was doing the same thing. No, he decided as he climbed the steps, it was worse.

Bella had graduated high school three weeks ago, and as a step forward had gotten her own place. She was accepted to the University of Washington in Seattle but wasn't going. Jacob couldn't leave the pack. And Bella wasn't going to leave him. She had made plans and now he was going to shatter them.

He could lie, but that seemed worse. Bella would find out of course, eventually.

No, lying wasn't an option, not really.

He was stalling. He was a coward.

He used the key she had made for him and opened the door, not before feeling the felt of the box between his fingers, but he shoved it, and the thought, back down into his pocket.

The apartment was coming along, she was currently trying to assemble a bookshelf in the middle of the room. She had an ugly brown couch that she refused to part with after seeing in the consignment store. The kitchen cupboards were open, stocked with her housewarming gift from Charlie; new plates and silverware. On the wall there was a much less practical gift from Renee, a photograph of some type of chimpanzee from Africa that was almost extinct; Bella had named him Alfred.

It was a small apartment, but had big windows. The living room and kitchen were adjoined, the bedroom was off to the left, and the bathroom just through that.

Jacob took the scene in, looking extra carefully at Bella, how unsuspecting she looked.

Bella heard the door open and found Jacob standing in it, she was so occupied with her shelf she didn't notice the look on his face.

"Hey." She said, smiling, her face brightening.

"Hi." It was weak, he was surprised she hadn't picked up on it yet.

Bella stood up and brushed the dust of her jeans.

"You want something to eat?" But before Jacob could say anything she interrupted him "Sorry dumb question. Hey, good news, guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm at zero today, well until now, but that doesn't count." Bella kept chattering about something, but Jacob didn't notice.

It was part of his plan, after the bloodsucker had left. He wasn't going to let Bella avoid the topic, or she would never get over him. He had made her tell him how many times she had thought of Edward that day. Usually it was in the double digits, high numbers he didn't like. But there had been a few zeros recently.

"Bella…"

"…so I thought, hey why not go with a yellow, right?" Finally she looked at him, she saw something was wrong and she crossed the room. "Jake, what's wrong?" She sounded concerned.

She reached up and put both of her tiny hands on his chest.

Jacob lost his voice, finding that he couldn't answer.

"Jake, tell me, what is it

She shouldn't be worried about me, he thought, she shouldn't be comforting me.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say. I never thought…really I never thought this would happen. I know that it's a dumb thing to say, but if for a second I thought it was a possibility..."

"Jeez, Jake just spit it out." Worry colored her tone now.

"I…Bella I imprinted." He sounded almost as shocked as she looked.

Understanding at once flooded her warm eyes. Then her face went blank, like she was trying to prevent herself from registering what was happening.

"Bella?"  
>Her hands had gone limp on his chest and she didn't say anything.<p>

"How…when…" She was trying to form a question, but her thoughts didn't make coherent ends. What was happening, it just didn't make sense.

"Earlier. Today. I don't know why, it was supposed to be _you_…I don't know what happened."

Finally her brain came to the most crucial question "Who?" She choked out.

"Her name is Rachel. She was walking outside your building when it happened."

Nobody spoke, the weight of Jacob's news was like a pressure in the air. That, and Bella was a little horrified that he imprinted on someone who shared the same name as his sister.

"Oh." She said quietly, taking her hands off of him and placing one over her eyes.

"Bella?" He looked at her with concern.

"Oh god. Oh…god…" She was hyperventilating.

"Bella, please, take a deep breath, it's going to be okay." It was automatic, he reached out to comfort her, the girl he had loved for so long.

"Don't…_touch_ me. Just get out." She moved away from him, he noticed the tears in her eyes, and felt his own get wet.

"I didn't want this to happen…I wanted it to be you but…"

"But it wasn't." She finished for him. The tears were freely rolling down her cheeks, for once she didn't try to hide them.

"Bella, it'll be okay."

"Yeah, for you. You have…her." _And I have nobody. "_You have her. So congratulations." Bella's voice was getting hysterical. "But I am pretty sure you promised not to leave me. That you would be with me, love _me_, that all went out the window now I guess. So it will be fine. For you. But just this one time Jake, just this once _what about me?_"

"I-Bella…_please_." He was desperate to make her happy. He wished he had never seen Rachel, but he was connected to her now, irreversibly, irrevocably.

"Right. So get out." Her voice cracked on the last word and Jacob left.

Bella was right, she was alone again.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am going to publish the next two chapter, and then be a d-bag and not publish more until I get some reviews...**

**Chapter Two**

"Imprinting?" Rachel said, she was trying to make sense of what had happened.

"Yeah, it's a wolf…thing…" Jacob wasn't sure why but he was embarrassed, he wanted her to like him so badly, but in order to like him she had to know him. Which meant everything.

"So it's like a connection?"

"Yeah."

"Good, then at least I'm not going crazy."

"So you felt it too?" Jacob unconsciously leaned closer.

"Yeah." Rachel blushed, is was undoubtedly the cutest thing he had ever seen, just like…Bella.

Bella. The thought of her unhappy made him feel a shot of pain. Everything was just so wrong. Even though he knew Rachel was so…right.

"You have a choice." Jacob had to tell her, since she did. Just nobody had ever turned away from someone who had imprinted on them before. "If you don't want…me…well you have a choice."  
>"I know." She turned a deeper shade of crimson and put her hand over his "I just already decided."<p>

They finished the lunch they had been eating. It was three days since Jacob had imprinted on Rachel, and he had asked her out to lunch. The first time he had saw her he asked for her number. But it took him three days to get up the guts to call her.

She was tall, only a couple of inches shorter then his 6'7''. She was blonde and tan, and undeniably pretty. She wanted to be a history major, and was in the same grade as he. Rachel had dark green eyes and an easy laugh. She was perfect for him.

_Bella_.

Every time he thought of Bella he felt like he was betraying Rachel. But being with Rachel he felt like he was betraying Bella.

It was a cycle, unending, and it seemed like to Jacob, unbreakable.

"Hey," Rachel said quietly, putting her hand on his shoulder, calling him out of his trance. "Sorry, but I have to go."

"Yeah, okay. See you tonight?" It only felt natural for him to hold her head in one of his hands. She leaned over the table and kissed him softly on the lips.

"My place. Don't be late."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Bella had not left her apartment for three days. She wasn't answering the phone. She wasn't talking to anyone. She wasn't eating; she was numb.

It was all disconcertingly familiar. But when she had been like this before, when Edward had left, Jacob was there to pick up all the pieces. He was her glue, and when the glue failed, the whole structure tumbled down.

So that was what she was doing, tumbling.

Her phone rang.

_Thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six…_she counted. It was Angela, no doubt. Bella had turned off her voicemail yesterday, since Angela had left nine messages, and now she just kept calling. Bella might have answered it, but from the messages she knew Angela knew what was up.

"_Hey Bella, so, um how are you? Jacob called…"_ Bella jabbed at the delete. Of course he did.

There was a knocking at her door.

"What the do you want Ang-" Bella started as she opened her door, not seeing who was standing there.

"Marcy." Bella said, surprised and more than a little embarrassed.

Marcy was Bella's overly friendly neighbor, who didn't know her name. She was nice enough, but ditzy didn't really cover it.

"BETH!" Marcy screeched, kissing her on the cheek. "It's been like forever." She pronounced the last word like it was three.

_It's been like five days._

"Yeah…sorry Marcy but I'm pretty busy…." Wallowing…

"Oh god, you're preaching to the choir. Hey, girl I just came over to invite you to a little par-tay de housewarming! There is a family, and they moved in right ABOVE YOU!" She yelled the last part with an air of can-you-believe it!

"Really, well thanks but I don't think tonight's going to work…"

"Okay, great I am like _so_ glad you're coming. And don't worry about it, we have all the food, so you only need to bring drinks. I myself like coke in the glass litres." And she winked.

"Fantastic." Bella was too deflated to argue, she would go, she would bring drinks, then she would leave. God knows that would be easier then arguing with Marcy right now.

Bella was late, on her way to the store to get the damn drinks, but before she got there she realized she had no money. Upon returning to her apartment she made the next realization that she had locked herself out and it had taken an hour for the superintendent to get over and open her apartment. Since she had _given away_ her spare key.

It took another half hour to get the drinks and she decided to skip showering in order to get home, and back to her self-wallowing misery sooner.

Marcy had told her the apartment was above hers, but failed to mention which number. Bella could only assume it was the one with the "WELCOME" sign hung up, door open, and light rock playing.

Light rock. She took the oxymoronic music as a bad omen.

Bella took a deep breath and promised herself no longer then forty-five minutes.

When she stepped in the door however a laugh greeted her. It sent a crack down her chest.

It was Jacob.

He was laughing, along with everyone else.

"I mean, it was such a coincidence, you know? I was just bringing up another box for mom, and we saw each other and it was like…a connection." Bella heard a girl saying, she noticed the girl also sounded happy. "Right?"

"Sure, sure, just like that." It was Jacob this time, she could hear the smile in his voice.

Bella knew she should leave, right then and there.

She knew this and she also knew she couldn't make herself move. She wanted…had to know what happened. How Jake had been taken away from her. Why.

"Think, if he would have been a minute later, or you a minute earlier, you two lovebirds would have like, never even _met_!" Bella heard Marcy's shriek of laughter following her revelation.

_Yeah, think about it._

"Oh no." The other girl said, sounding sure of herself. "It was meant to be. We would've met someday." She heard something like someone moving on the couch, and a noise that sounded suspiciously like kissing.

A chorus of "Aw, how cute!" followed soon after.

"Well, I am just happy he feels the same way." _Rachel_ continued "I mean, I was lucky he wasn't taken."

Another round of laughter followed this.

Bella never found out what Jacob would say to this, since at that moment she broke the glass bottle she was carrying.

It hit the hard floor and shattered, not before slicing her hand open.

Everyone looked in her direction, but there was only one face she saw.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Jacob had not realized when Rachel invited him over to her place, that it was a housewarming party, and that she lived in the same building as Bella.

He really didn't want to go, because he didn't want to risk Bella seeing him. He didn't want to hurt her more then he had.

But Rachel was insistent and he promised her.

Everything had gone well, he had gotten to Rachel's apartment unnoticed. Even when Marcy got there she didn't seem to recognize him, despite the fact he had already met her four times.

Rachel had started talking about how they met, and Jacob couldn't help but smile at how happy she looked.

"Well, I am just happy he feels the same way. I mean, I was lucky he wasn't taken." When Rachel said that Jacob made a choking sound, he was worried that he would have to explain this but they heard glass shattering, everyone looked up and saw Bella, standing in the doorway, glass laying around her, and blood dripping into the spilled liquid on the floor.

Jacob's eyes widened and a look of horror crossed his face. Not just for Bella being hurt, but by what she had heard. About Rachel crowing about their relationship. For a second Jacob was angry with Rachel, furious. She shouldn't have said anything, but he knew of course she had no way of knowing.

Bella looked down at the glass, at and the red stained puddle, then at her own hand, which by now was bleeding badly.

"Ow." She said it softly, surprised.

"Bella?" Jacob said, he ran over and picked up her hand, making sure it was not too badly injured.

Rachel hurried into the kitchen and brought in some towels to cover Bella's hand in.

She was still bleeding, but not as badly as before, after they had wrapped up her hand and set her on the couch.

"Hold it up, just like that." Rachel instructed "I'll go grab some more towels."

By that time Marcy and the four other women there had left, but not before Marcy whispered "It was only Pepsi." Bella wondered if the bottle breaking was kharma for her small act of rebellion when buying the drinks.

But then it was just Jacob, Bella and Rachel in the apartment.

Three's a crowd.

"How's your hand feeling?" Rachel asked, holding some more towels in one hand and an ice pack in another.

"Fine." Bella managed to croak.

Rachel looked at her disbelievingly, and then looked at her hand.

"You're going to need stitches…" She pulled Bella's hand closer to her face to better see the cut "It's an inch deep. Definitely going to need stitches. Do you have a way to get to the hospital…it's Bella right?" Bella nodded her head in confirmation. "Do you have a way to get to the hospital Bella?"

"Yeah, sure I can find one…" Bella wanted to get out of there, which Jacob knew since he knew her so well.

He also knew she had no ride. Her ancient truck had finally died and he had been driving her. Another shot of guilt jolted his system, how had she been getting around the past few days he wondered.

"That's a no." Rachel smiled gently at Bella, and Bella was really wishing she would kick a puppy or do something to give her a reason to hate Rachel. So far no such luck. "Jacob, you could drive her…"

But before she could continue Bella jumped in "No, really. I don't want to intrude, it's not that bad anyway."

"Really it's no problem. We didn't have any plans, only dinner. Have to celebrate the three day anniversary." Rachel giggled.

Bella tried to smile, but she could feel the twisted grimace, which would be labeling it kindly, on her face.

She never thought that she would see any silver lining to Edward leaving her, but at least he had to common courtesy, the _decency_, to leave town as well.

Rachel took Bella's silence as an affirmation. "Good, then. And dinner's not til 7:00, okay?" She said, turning to Jacob.

Jacob nodded and Bella sat there, dumbstruck.

Ten minutes later she was sitting less the two feet away from the guy who shattered her already cracked heart.

He had a grim look on his face, and she looked out the window.

"I…I don't know what to say." Jacob admitted, the nearest hospital was 30 minutes away, since the local one had shut down, after Carlisle had left, and that was a long way to sit in silence.

"There's not a lot to say." Bella whispered. She was having enough trouble keeping it together without talking.

"So, have you been…okay?" He knew the answer though. The last time he had seen Bella looking this way was when Edward had left. She had the same zombie look in her eyes right now has she did then. The same broken look. Only this time it was his fault it was there.

"You weren't supposed to leave." She said, if it wouldn't have been for his enhanced hearing Jacob probably wouldn't have heard her.

"I know." Bella wiped her hand quickly under her eye, and Jacobs own vision became blurred. Something about Bella crying always made him do the same.

"I wasn't supposed to have to do this twice." This time it was more to herself, but Jacob still answered.

"I know."

Bella started crying harder, too much for her to try and hide.

Jacob pulled over on the side of the road, and wrapped his arm around her. Bella leaned into him, feeling his familiar warmth.

"Please Bella, Bells, please don't cry. It'll be alright. Just don't cry." He used his other arm to pat her head, and tried to wipe off some of her tears.

Bella looked up at him, for only a second, but the look was so tragic it broke his heart. And he realized, even after everything Edward had put her though, never had he seen this much devastation on her face.

Before he knew it he was kissing her. It was frantic, and wet because of her tears, but familiar, like coming home.

Bella opened her mouth slightly and Jacob moved closer to her, and some how ended up hovering over her in the passenger seat. She hooked her the thumb of her non-bleeding hand through his belt loops, pulling him even closer. His fingers trailed on the hem of her shirt, spanning across her back.

"Jacob…" Bella whispered lightly. Then pulled back slightly, blushing the familiar way she always did. "Jacob." She said it louder that time "What are we doing."

He pulled back now to, trying to look at her, to see what she was thinking.

"I don't know."

"But…you're staying with her. With Rachel?" Bella shut her eyes when asking this, she knew what he would say, and she didn't want to see him answer. She didn't want to see him pull away and sit back in the drivers seat, buckle his seatbelt and look straight ahead as she knew he would.

And within seconds she felt his warmth leave her, the feeling of his skin only a memory.

"Yeah." He said, clearing his throat. "Yes, I have to she's my imprint." He wished, with ever fiber of his being, that he could say no. That he could promise he would be hers, that he could take away that pained look in her eyes.

"Was it something I did…?" She asked quietly, her eyes still closed.

"No. No Bella it's not like that. We can't choose who we imprint on. It just happens, nobody knows why, or how…but it's not your fault."

Jacob couldn't stand the thought of Bella blaming herself for this, for his stupid wolf things.

She sighed like she was defeated. They drove the rest of the way to the hospital in silence.

When they entered the parking lot Jacob was going to turn left, for the short term parking, but Bella shook her head and pointed to the right, DROP OFF, that sign read.

"But how are you…" Jacob asked, stopping in the middle of the intersection to look at Bella.

"I'll find my own ride home, don't worry about it." Apparently she wasn't going to wait to even get to the drop-off area, she opened the door and was about to get out before Jacob leaned across and closed it.

"Bella, I can give you a ride home."

"Really, just go. Rachel…she'll be expecting you for dinner." This disarmed Jacob for some reason.

They didn't say anything else until Jacob dropped her off at the hospital entrance.

"Thanks for the ride." Bella said in a way that broke his heart.

"Are you sure…I mean do you have someone to call?"

She smiled sadly. "I'll manage."

With that she left and went to get at least one part of her life fixed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews! I'm adding two more chapters, because 5 is pretty short.  
>ALSO, to address some of the things brought up in the reviews, this was different for me to write, because I really liked Jake in the book, but there was the whole tent scene between him and Edward, where EC made the comment he would be waiting in the wings if Jacob ever left Bella, which got me thinking...and now here's this story. I'm not going to give the whole plot away, however, I will say not to get your hopes super high. Only that I have some happy Bella &amp; Jacob ships in the future. Happy happy happy. And the one last bit, although it's not a joyful BellaJacob story, I do feel like it's about Bella & Jacob's relationship, even if it is falling apart, so I'm planning on keeping that as is. I did, however change it to Drama/Tragedy, so nobody would be too surprised. **

Chapter Five

About forty minutes and seven stitches later Bella was calling her dad on the public hospital phone that made her skin crawl.

It rang a few times before the heard the gruff voice on the other end. "Hello?"

"Dad, hi it's me…Bella…"

"Bells, where are you? I was getting worried, I haven't heard from you for a couple of days…"

"Right." She said, cutting him off "Sorry about that. But can you come get me?"

"Where are you?" He sounded a little worried now, Bella assumed he was picturing orange jumpsuits and bars.

"I cut my hand…and needed stitches, so the hospital."

"Oh Bella." He sounded exasperated, and unsurprised.. "Sure, I'll come get you. But where's Jake, I thought he would be there with you," Bella's throat tightened. "The boy's pretty protective." Charlie laughed good naturedly through the phone.

"So you can come?" Bella asked, ignoring what he had said.

"Yeah, I'll be there real soon." Charlie hung up the phone, but not before noticing the dismayingly familiar tone in Bella's voice. The one he hadn't heard since Edward Cullen had left.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Charlie asked, after Bella had gotten into the car. He recognized the look in her eyes, and it wasn't one he had ever wanted to see again.

"I was holding onto a glass bottle so hard that it broke and…"

"_Not_ the hand Bella."

Bella sighed, she didn't think he had meant the hand but didn't wanted to talk with anyone about this, none the less with Charlie.

"_Not_ much to tell Dad."

"Well no matter what happened I'm sure Jake's sorry, he's a good boy Bella, I know he can act a little…immature sometimes but he really loves you, so if you can just forgive him I mean he already got the ring…"

"What _ring_?" Bella said quietly, but with a voice that made Charlie turn to look at his daughter.

"I thought that this was something about the wedding…"

"Whose wedding? What wedding?" Bella's voice was staring to get to a higher and more hysterical pitch.

"Well Jacob asked for my permission to marry you and I thought that…"

"Wrong. You were wrong. There is no wedding, I didn't know about the ring. I cannot forgive Jacob since he broke up with me…" Bella struggled to get out the next part, since by now her voice was barely audible. "…because he met someone else."

Charlie went pale white, that was definitely not the answer he was expecting. Then slowly, he turned to a blue, which kept getting deeper in shade until he was a reddish purple.

"Do you want me to shoot him, because we can make that happen." Charlie said when he finally found his voice. His hands were also shaking.

Bella tried to grin, more for her fathers sake then hers.

"When did he ask you?" Bella said, after some minutes had past, and Charlie didn't have to ask what about.

"About a week ago." Charlie was quiet waiting for her reaction, but couldn't see anything since she was looking out the window "Bella, honey are you alright?"

"Can you drop me of at…at Billy's place please."

"Bella I don't know if that is the best idea…"

"Please." She wasn't begging, but there was something so pitiful about her voice that Charlie didn't think he would turn her down for anything at the moment.

"Sure, I can do that." And Charlie took a left, up to the reservation, feeling that he would regret this later.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Jacob was running _early _for once. It hadn't taken long at the hospital, since Bella didn't let him stay.

He was trying not to think about what had happened in the car between them, trying to be fair to Rachel. But Bella's image was in the background of his every thought.

Jacob hadn't talked to anyone else in the pack yet. He was too ashamed to yet. All of them loved Bella, and he knew they would accept Rachel, since she was his imprint, but he didn't want to answer their questions yet. _Why? How? _Especially since he didn't have answers himself.

But he did want to talk to Sam. Sam was the only person he knew of that had a serious girlfriend, then imprinted. From Sam's thoughts he gathered that all of his feelings for Leah had just left. Sure Sam had felt guilty, to put it lightly, for hurting Leah, but there was never any doubt that Emily was the one for him.

And Jacob, to say the least, had some doubts.

But he pushed these out of his mind for now, because he had Rachel to think about. They were going out to dinner, and he was supposed to pick her up in twenty minutes. He was not going to let his confusion ruin both of their nights.

Jacob grabbed his keys. It was starting to rain outside, not a shocker for Washington. The rain was probably why he didn't smell her at first.

Bella was making her way to him, slowly, but then she saw him and started to speed up. It was muddy and Jacob was worried that she was going to fall. But his concern for her wellbeing started to fade when he saw the look on her face. She looked mad. Royally mad, even, he thought, supremely pissed.

Normally Bella had that kitten-trying-to-be-a-lion thing going on; but not right now. Now she had the look of a woman who had been put through enough and had reached her breaking point.

"Hi Bella…"

"Were you going to tell me?" She yelled, trying to be heard over the wind. She stopped five feet short of him.

For once Jacob didn't know what she was talking about, mostly because of the plethora of things she could be referring to. He only gave her a confused look.

"The ring Jacob. Were you going to tell me about the goddamn ring?" Bella also never swore. Ever. They were breaking into a lot of firsts right now.

"I don't know…no probably not." Charlie. He thought. Damn it. He didn't want her to find out about that, he thought that it would only make things worse. And he was right from the look on her face.

"Well I hope you got a receipt." Bella spit at him.

"Bella this whole thing…you _know_ it wasn't like that."

Bella walked forward so she was standing less then a foot away from Jacob.

"All I know is what happened. You were with me, you saw her, and now you are with here. That's what it was like."

"I didn't have a choice in it. I didn't get to chose who I imprinted on."

"Well you may not have had a choice, and something may have _happened_ to you, but it seems like I got the lower end of the whole deal."

"I know." Jacob said quietly, because what she said was true, Bella, through this whole thing, had suffered the most.

"Do you still have it?" She said finally, breaking the silence.

"The ring?" He asked, even though he knew the answer he hoped he was wrong.

Bella nodded, and Jacob took the little black box out of his pocket. The part of him that still loved Bella made him keep it there. He couldn't let himself be completely happy, not after what he had done to her, so he used this, the ring, as his reminder.

He opened it, and Bella let out a sound, like a small animal being hit. It was perfect, the perfect ring for her. It was simple, and beautiful. The diamonds were inset in one of the three silver bands, which were intertwined so it really looked like three rings wrapper together.

She looked at the ring a minute loner, Jacob stared at her, watching Bella's face crumble before his eyes. She looked heartbroken and confused.

But this all vanished when she looked up at him. Bella took another step closer to Jacob, never taking her eyes off of his own. Then slapped him across the face.

The sound filled the air around them, and for such a small person she had a mighty slap.

Jacob could not actually feel it, but it sent the message clear enough.

Bella threw the ring down at his feet and started down the driveway.

She didn't look back to see if he was looking at her, and she ignored him when he yelled out her name. Going there was a mistake, asking to see the ring was definitely mistake. She felt more acutely now what she had lost.

So she needed to leave.

Bella wasn't quite sure how she was going to get home.

"Hey!" Someone called from a truck pulling up next to her. It took Bella a moment to place the face of the driver; Leah Clearwater.

The only female member of Jacob's pack.

"Hey." Bella said.

"Oh…Bella…well do you need a ride?" Leah didn't realize it was her, which was why she pulled over. When Bella saw her she thought it was strange she knew that Leah never particularly liked her. In fact she was pretty sure she hated her, because of Bella's involvement with vampires. But Bella didn't want to walk the rest of the way home, or even worse, run into Jacob again.

"Thanks." Bella mumbled after getting in. The silence in the truck was deafening. "So I am guessing Jacob told you." Bella finally said.

"About what?" Leah asked, not sounding altogether to interested.

"That he imprinted. On someone else." Leah actually looked shocked, not that closed off icy look she usually wore.

"Then that makes you the newest member of WARR."

"What?" Bella thought that she might have heard wrong.

"WARR. Women Against Required Relationships. We fight the war against imprinting." She said the last part like a catchy slogan from an infomercial.

Bella laughed. "Yeah, I guess."

"It's a fucking honor right? Now between you and me we have two members."  
>"The lucky ones." This time both Leah and Bella laughed, each humorless.<p>

"Yeah," Leah continued. "But at least _yours_ didn't leave you for your cousin." Leah snorted, sounding bitter.

"Nope, it was just a few days after he bought an engagement ring." Bella said.

"And I thought it was _female _dogs who were supposed to be the bitches." Leah muttered under her breath.

"So…he really didn't tell you guys yet?" It felt like the whole world had ended to Bella, and it was almost a little disappointing to find out that nobody else actually knew.

"No, he hasn't phased for days. But he might've told Quill or Embry or something. We don't really tolerate one another."

"Oh." Bella said.

"Yeah, it comes from me thinking he is an egotistical-asshole and he thinks I am a harpy-bitch. But hey, when the fiancé ditches you for your cousin, then you are stuck following orders from him for the rest of your life, you get to be a little bitchy about it right?" Leah said it with a deadpan voice laced with sarcasm, and from the way she stopped at the end Bella got the impression it was not something she was used to talking about.

"I was the almost fiancé, and it was with a girl I didn't know, so I guess you got me beat." Bella said, her voice however didn't hold the anger that Leah was now capable of, only sadness.

"Male wolves. Complete bastards." Leah finished with.

"Agreed." Bella said.

It had been a long time, or so it seemed, since Bella had made a new friend. But, at this moment, she thought that maybe she had one. And it was one, to her immense relief, she didn't have to hide why Jacob had left her.

She wouldn't have to make excuses, or hide the reason, as she would with Angela.

Bella was surprised when Leah had pulled up to her building without asking where she lived. Then she remembered that Jacob had probably unintentionally _told _her.

"Thanks." Bella said as she was getting ready to get out of the car.

"Yeah, see you around." Leah said.

But before Bella opened the door, she saw Rachel. Standing on the sidewalk, like she was waiting for someone to pick her up.

Rachel looked undeniably pretty in her dress and her hair was curled with some light make up on her face.

"Is that her?" Leah asked, seeing Bella tense up like she did.

"Yeah." Bella said, shaking her head. She got out of the car and heard Leah rolling the passenger window down.

"Hey!" Leah called Rachel looked over at her, a little confused. "Bella, call me later to talk about that skank who's with Jake." Leah looked pointedly at Rachel, then drove off, laughing.

Rachel looked a little shocked, as did Bella.

Bella bent her head down and was trying to make it to the door before Rachel had composed herself enough to talk to her.

"Bella, how's your hand doing?"  
>"Uh, fine. I needed stitches, no big deal."<p>

Rachel smiled kindly. "I thought you would, my mom's a nurse and I used to spend a lot of time at hospitals so I know about those kind of things."

"Right…well thanks again." Bella didn't know why she was thanking her, _thanks for taking Jacob?_ No she didn't think so. And if she was being honest it wasn't really Rachel's fault. Or Jacobs. Which was one of the most infuriating things about this whole mess. There was nobody to blame, it was nobody's fault. Except, Bella couldn't help but thinking, her own.

But, it worked enough so Rachel only smiled, and Bella could go on her way. She may not be able to reasonably hate Rachel, but she didn't really want to know anything about her either.

It did not, however, work soon enough. She was not wholly in the door before she heard Rachel's delighted squeal. "Jake!" And her running to his truck, opening the door and getting in to go to their date.

Bella, embracing her newfound love for masochism , looked back. It was at the same moment that Jacob noticed the girl in the doorway, and their glances met. And, for Bella, her heart seemed to break all over again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, new chapter. WARNING - watered down lemon. **

Chapter Seven

It was a nice dinner. No, Jacob corrected himself, a _great_ dinner. The restaurant was nice, and the food was good. Plus he was there with Rachel.

She was a little off when she got in the car, Jacob noticed.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, she looked at him smiling a little guilty.

"It's nothing." She said, looking back at the road. He waited for her to go on, and eventually she did. "It's just this girl…in a truck she dropped Bella off this afternoon and said something…never mind."

"What did she say?" Jacob was getting a little worried, and tightened his grip on the wheel.

"She implied, that you were with Bella, before you were with me." Rachel said it quick, like she was waiting for Jacob to confirm or deny it before she made her own opinion.

"It doesn't matter." He said, going around the topic. "You're my imprint." As he said this though, it felt like he was betraying Bella.

"But you were with her." Rachel said, it was not a question. "I'm not mad or hurt or anything, I just wish you would have told me."

"I…it's complicated. The whole thing…" Jacob said, and it was. Because he couldn't tell Rachel why he felt so guilty about it. Why he and Bella were so close without telling her about Edward, opening up another topic altogether. "But how did you know?"  
>Rachel smiled forgivingly. "It's written all over both your faces. Whenever you see her. I can tell you feel guilty."<p>

"Not about meeting you." He assured her, and a little bit himself. "It's just what I did to her. We were friends, and I hurt her." He finished, it was the truth. Or enough of it so it wasn't a full out lie. He switched topics. "Are you going to tell me what Leah said?"

"Leah?" Rachel asked.

"She's the only girl member of our wolf pack. I'm guessing she was the one who dropped Bella off, since she is the only one who would say something to you."

"Oh. Well maybe I'll tell you later. After dinner." Rachel said, worrying Jacob about what it was even more.

So after that it was a nice dinner. Terrific dinner.

Rachel, on the drive home, was glowing happily, and chattering about starting school this next year and about how she was nervous that it was at a new school.

Jacob knew he should be listening closer, but there was that shadow in the back of his head. That looming cloud that always kept a part of him from Rachel. Bella.

He had seen her, as she had seen him, when he was pulling away from the curb. He had seen the look on her face, and he had known what he was doing to her. But, to him, for some reason, she had looked even more hurt then usual. There was a deeper layer to her pain, in that moment.

Although he indisputably loved Rachel, he didn't want to hurt Bella. He didn't want to cause her pain. And that's what he was doing. All the time.

"So…" Rachel said, Jacob noticed her tone had turned to a nervous one. "Do you want to come in…my parents are out of town…"

Jacob caught what she was implying. Of course he wanted to come in…but if felt like a betrayal to Bella. But if he didn't go in then it would be hurting Rachel…

He shook his head, trying, for Rachel's sake, to push Bella out of his mind, for now at least.

"If you think that's a good idea…"

"I would love for you to come in." Rachel said, her nervous tone turning to one of confidence.

Within twenty minutes they were in Rachel's room, watching a movie on her television. It was a western, Rachel had admitted they were her guilty pleasure. Something Jacob had found endearing.

They were about a foot away from each other before Rachel started to move closer. First she had put her hand in his. Then her arm around his neck. He felt himself leaning in closer to her.

This he remembered, but how he got on top of her, with his shirt off he didn't remember.

"Jake…" Rachel moaned, as he moved from her mouth to her neck, she cupped her hand around the back of his head.

Jacob could feel her pushing in closer to him. He knew where this was leading, and it was what he wanted. But, since imprinting, it was not his own needs that came first but Rachel's. So he pulled back.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes." She said, a little breathless. But then started to look a little embarrassed. "I…I want you to be my first." She looked away from his eyes.

But then Jacob's mind was somewhere else. It was back, months ago. When he and Bella had decided to go camping…but he shook his head of these thoughts.

Rachel sat up, and took her shirt off. Jacob couldn't suppress a growl of his own. Rachel smiled and leaned back in, to kiss Jacob.

"Oh Jake…" She sighed sweetly.

_"Oh Jake." Bella said. She rolled over to face him, putting her hand on the small of his back. They were in their sleeping bags already…_

"I love you." She whispered.

_"I trust you." Bella had murmured after the few seconds of silence. Because for her, that was the deepest form of love. Since Edward had left, it was easy to love a person, but trusting them was something else completely different._

_ "You can Bells." He whispered. "You can trust me, I will be there for you, always, I love you."_

_ Bella smiled at him and unzipped her own sleeping bag in order to join him in his._

"I love you too." He managed to get out. Jacob went back to kissing her neck, trailing down her collarbone. He buried his head in her hair, inhaling.

_Bella smelled like strawberry, the type of shampoo she used. She was on top of him, and had already slipped both of their shirts off. Jacob flipped them over so she was under him. He was careful…she seemed so small…so breakable._

Rachel slipped her hands down to his waist, running her hands over his back…

_Bella hooked her finger in his jean's waistband indicating she wanted them down. He moved his own hands to hers, slipping them off._

Rachel wrapped her naked legs around him, pulling him even closer, moaning quietly.

Jacob entered her, trying to be as gentle as he could…

_"Am I hurting you? Are you okay?" He asked Bella, leaning his forehead on her own._

_ Bella nodded, putting her hand sweetly on his cheek._

_ "I am all better now." She was smiling._

When they were done Jacob lay next to Rachel, watching her snore lightly.

_She looked peaceful._

Rachel looked peaceful.

_Unconsciously Bella threw her arm around his shoulder. And he knew he could never be so happy, that Bella would be his forever._

Rachel moved closer to him. He put his arm around her, laying his cheek on her head.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry." He whispered, not sure whom he was talking to.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

In a normal climate it would have been considered dry. But in Forks, in Washington, it was super dry.

There was the least rainfall that month then there had been in twenty years.

But Bella was told, by Cindi at 7:00 PM every day, there was cloud coverage all through the western coast, and only a fifteen percent chance of sun over the next week.

Bella's new routine consisted of fielding calls from Angela, and on occasion her dad. Going to work at Mike's family's store. And, because everyone, even Bella, needed that high point of the day, watching Cindi Robinson on the seven o'clock news.

Cindi was an over-perky anchorwoman who covered the daily news, political news, weather and parts of the sports announcements for the under funded Forks County News. She always had matching earrings, lipstick and blouses. And was able to smile, even when discussing the latest natural disaster.

She also liked Cindi because of her well balanced news casting. Cindi spent about ten minutes on the world issues, and had a half-hour special on yard gnome. Everyone's special "little buddy".

For some reason Cindi spelled her name with an "i" at the end of it, and that little "i" made Bella absurdly annoyed, like it was yelling at her or something, but it was what made "Cindi", Cindi, so she loved it at the same time. But hey, that's just how Cindi was, a complex human being.

And after Bella had gotten over originally wanting to yell "Please don't kill me!" every time Cindi smiled, she _really_ warmed up to the show.

Most likely because for that forty-five minutes she was able to pretend she was someone else. That she was not the girl who got dumped not once, but twice. That she was not the girl who pretended she couldn't hear he ex-boyfriend sneaking up to his girlfriend's apartment every night.

She knew Jacob was not trying to hurt her. That he was sneaking so she _wouldn't _hear him, but she did. And she was being hurt. All of the time. She was hurt, it was his fault, and she still couldn't bring herself to hate him for it.

Maybe, she thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Rachel wasn't his soul mate or whatever. If she at least had a breakup to look forward to.

"And I am Cindi Robinson, dishin' up the news in Forks." She smiled her near psychopathic smiled and ended the show.

Bella sighed and clicked the television off.

"Well Alfred, that was another fun-filled night, huh?" Bella did not wish to contimplate the level of pathetic it was that she now had lengthily conversations with a picture of a monkey, but that was honestly what her life had been reduced to.

Even since Jacob had…ended it, her apartment hadn't come along too far. She still only had the old couch, a television on a cardboard box, some dishes from her dad, and her bed. The shelf was still unassembled, but had been moved into the corner, but hey, it wasn't unusual to take weeks on a shelf was it?

She breathed in, trying to collect herself enough to make dinner when the smoke from Marcy's awful smelling herbal cigarettes rolled under her door, and Marcy going into her apartment.

Marcy insisted, after she had trapped Bella in the elevator on the way up, that they improved your intelligence, and metabolism, _and_ were a great source of nutrients. Bella didn't try and puzzle that one out, she only nodded and smiled. Or at least what she hoped looked like a smile, she was out of practice these days.

The phone interrupted her thoughts, she though that it was most likely Angela, or her dad. It was Mrs. Helfing, the old lady upstairs. She needed Bella to do one thing or the other for her, usually it was emptying the cats litter, but Bella didn't really have much else to do these days, and Mrs. Helfing was the only one who didn't know about Jacob, so she really didn't mind going to see her.

She grabbed her apartment keys and headed up, hoping she wouldn't bump into Jacob on the way.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Jacob left in the morning, after he had breakfast with Rachel. He was on his way home, but had one stop to make first. Rachel had told him what Leah had said, she had made a good choice on not telling him last night.

He knocked on the door. Once, twice, three then four times before Seth opened it.

"Oh hey Jacob what's…going on?" He trailed off after he got a good look at Jacob's face.

"Is Leah home?" Jacob was trying to control his shaking. It had been a long time since he thought he was going to lose it, but right now, he thought that was entirely possible. Seth nodded and went to get her.

Jacob moved out to the front yard, trying to control himself.

When Leah came outside, looking annoyed and unremorseful, he almost hit her.

"Yeah?" That was all she said.

"Do not," Jacob said slowly, barely able to stop himself from phasing. "Ever talk to her again."

"Okay, being a little dramatic there Jakey?" Leah asked, crossing her arms. She was trying to piss him off he knew, and it was working. Leah was always trying to pick a fight with one of the guys. And, when it was over, no matter how much of her fault it was, Sam always took Leah's side.

"I don't know what right you think you have to talk to her…"

"Freedom of speech?" Leah supplied.

"Leah, I'm not fucking kidding. Back _off_."

"Really, or what?"

"Or else I am going to…"

"Hey guys." Seth came running out of the house. Both of them could tell he had been listening. He looked worried. "Come on, now stop fighting…"

"Seth," Leah scolded. "Jacob was just going to tell me why I should stop talking to his little girlfriend or else something really _bad_ was going to happen."

Seth looked over at Jacob, concerned about how he was going to react to this, even though he had no idea what Leah was talking about.

"I mean it Leah, if you hurt her…well she doesn't need that again." And the look on Jacob's face actually made Leah take a step back.

But then what he said finally made sense to her. While she thought he was talking about Rachel, he was talking about someone else.

"And how would I hurt _Rachel_?" Leah asked, smiling.

Jacob stuttered. Realizing, too late, that he was angry for her talking to Bella, not yell at Rachel. That he had come here yelling at her for speaking to his ex-girlfriend, not hazing his imprint.

"Anyway, I like Bella. We can relate. Rachel, however, should get along _fantastically_ with Emily."

Jacob didn't have anything to say to that, or at least nothing that wouldn't get him early morning patrols for a month, so he phased. To get away from Leah, to leave his own thoughts.

Seth stood there, looking even more confused. Leah was the only one in the pack who had known about the imprint. And, much to Jacob's chagrin, everyone, except Leah, Seth and Jared , were running patrol now.

Within seconds of his paws hitting the earth everyone knew.

A chorus of _WHAT _exploded into his head.

_Dude, what the fuck? _Embry asked him.

_Whoa. _Quil added.

_ Is she a hottie, or what?_

_ Paul. _Sam commanded. _Shut up. Jacob are you alright?_

_ Fine._ Jacob said, he was running in the opposite direction of where he knew the pack was. He might have to talk to them, yeah. But he didn't have to see them.

_Dude, we both imprinted on a Rachel. _Paul added again, apparently ignoring Sam's order.

_Paul. _Sam said again, sounding a little irritated.

_Where's Jared? _Jacob wanted to talk about anything except his imprint right now.

_With Kim. _Quil answered. _Why didn't you tell us?_

That led to Embry, Paul and Quil all firing off a whole other round of questions. And Paul throwing in a _How's she in the sack? Killer, because we could make it a foursome…_

_Enough. _The alpha tone was now in Sam's voice, who must have decided Jacob wouldn't take kindly to Paul talking about his sister like that._ You three, phase back. Me and Jacob will finish running patrol._

Then it was just Sam in Jacob's head. Which was alright with him, since he was the only one he wanted to talk to.

_We were wondering why you didn't phase for so long. _Sam said finally.

_Do you…do you still think about Leah? In the same way you used to?_

Sam took his time before answering. _No. I feel awful for how it ended. But…Emily is who I am supposed to be with. I know that. And I still love Leah, but it's not close to the way I feel for Emily now._

_ Then what's wrong with me?_

_ I don't know. You and me…we are the only other people who have been in relationships when we imprinted…_

_ Whoop-de-fucking-doo. What does that mean? I only have a half imprint? Or what?_

_ No. I can feel your relationship with Rachel, it's strong. It's just that your relationship with Bella is still there. I don't know what it means Jacob. We can look back into the legends, and ask the elders, but I don't think there is much I can tell you._

_ Great. _

_ I am sorry._

_ Yeah, me too. It's just that I am not the one who is really suffering from this._

And Sam was silent. There wasn't much _he _could say to that one.

_Did you tell your father yet?_

_ No. _

The last time Jacob was home was to change for his date with Rachel, and his dad was at Sue's so he had managed to avoid him altogether. He didn't know how his dad would take it, with Bella being his best friend's daughter and all that.

_ Go tell him. It'll only be harder the longer you wait._

_ Fine._

_ Oh and Jacob, don't yell at Leah like that again, I will cut you some slack because of what you are going through, but next time I won't._

Jacob phased back, and didn't comment on the last part. Because for once he understood where Sam was coming from. He didn't protect Leah out of love, but out of guilt.

Because it was Sam's fault for Leah being the way she was, so angry and bitter all of the time. That she wasn't like that before her fiancé left her for her sister-like-cousin.

And Jacob knew, if in a similar position he would probably do the same.

After climbing through his window and throwing on some clothes that smelled, at least, relatively clean Jacob went to look for his father.

"Dad?" Jacob called. He thought that nobody was home, since the television wasn't on, and was surprised when his father responded from the kitchen.

"Oh hey, I forgot that you lived here." His dad joked when he came into the kitchen.

Billy was making some sandwiches. But when he saw Jacob and stopped smiling. "What happened?"

Jacob sat down in the chair, suddenly exhausted.

He told his dad the whole story.

Billy sat in his chair after Jacob was finished, absorbing everything his son had said.

"And how is Bella taking this?" He asked quietly. Jacob couldn't look him in the eyes.

"The same…as the other time." He mumbled.

Billy nodded. He was surprised, not because the relationship didn't work, but because Jacob imprinted. There was too much…darkness centered around their relationship for it to last. Too many scars, and haphazardly healed wounds. They loved each other, he knew that, but it was not always enough.

Jacob imprinting though, that was not something he had expected. It seemed impossible to him that Jacob could love someone more then Bella. But that was not how imprinting worked, he knew. It was not so much love, but as your soul mate. If Jacob wouldn't have been a wolf, he would have probably ended up with Bella, forever, perfectly happy. It was the wolf in him, his heightened senses, even those unconscious ones that allowed Jacob to sense his other half in Rachel.

Billy knew his son well, and he knew, from the look on his face, that his feelings for Bella had not gone away. That this was not a normal imprint. He didn't know why, but he knew that.

"I should go." Jacob said, sounding miserable. "I told Rachel that I would meet her…"

"Alright." Billy said. "Have…fun." He waved at Jacob. Jacob smiled halfheartedly back, and ran out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry the updates are getting slow, but I'm actually rewriting the last couple chapters, and making some major changes. Stick with me, it will one day get done. Soon. Very soon. **

**Chapter Ten**

It turned out Mrs. Helfing had wanted Bella to mop and vacuum her whole apartment while she was at bingo night at the community center.

Bella, since she figured the good kharma could not hurt at this point, and had nothing else to do, agreed and set to work.

Half the apartment was carpet, the other linoleum and there were the bathroom tiles that said needed to be, individually, scrubbed by hand.

It took Bella a half hour just to find the damn vacuum cleaner, and another hour to work it through the shag carpeting.

She didn't even want to think about how much work the bathroom was going to be, since had literally given her an old toothbrush to do it with.

She heard giggling across the hall, and immediately recognized Rachel's laugh, accompanied by Jacob's as they went into her apartment.

Bella had a chance to look at herself in the mirror, and she looked like a complete mess. Her hair was piled on her head, wrapped by an old bandana, she was wearing an old pair of shorts and tee-shirt. Her face was blotchy red and covered in sweat.

It was shocking to believe Jacob had picked the long-legged gorgeous blonde over her. She thought to herself. Scrubbing extra hard on the particular tile she was working on.

She was concentrating so hard, it took her a minute to notice the smell.

_Damn Marcy and her herbal cigarettes_. She thought to herself. But then no, she realized, the smoke didn't smell like_ that_ type of smoke, it was like a fire. Then she looked up at the front door and noticed that smoke was curling in under the front door.

Bella ran out into the hallway, yelping at how hot the door handle had gotten.

She saw Rachel and Jacob, also standing in the hall, looking confused, looks that only deepened when they saw her.

"I was cleaning…for …" Bella explained weakly.

Bella heard the sirens outside the building. The fire must be bigger then she had thought.

Smoke was filling the hallway, Bella could barely make out Jacob and Rachel who were standing not three feet from here.

"Oh my god." She heard Rachel say.

Rachel looked toward the crackling noise coming from the bottom of the stairs. Yes, the fire was much bigger then they had thought.

Flames were already licking the stairs up, making it impossible to go down them.

Bella was coughing from the smoke filling her lungs.

The sirens were getting louder and louder.

She heard voices yelling.

She felt herself being picked up, then darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

When he got to Rachel's building Marcy and some of her friends were out back smoking. He could smell the stench of the herbal cigarettes from hallway inside, and suspected he would even without werewolf senses.

After he got to Rachel's door he remarked this and they both laughed, thinking about how much nicer of a building this would be if Marcy moved out.

"The landlord could probably raise the rent." Rachel agreed.

Jacob flipped through one of Rachel's dad's car magazines that was laying on the coffee table while she finished her homework. It was math, and she said it would probably take a while.

"Speaking of Marcy's new habits." Rachel said, wrinkling her nose.

"Hmm?" Jacob asked, not fully paying attention. The magazine was featuring the car Jacob would kill to have.

"I can smell Marcy's smoke from here."

Jacob inhaled, and knew, right away that something was wrong.

"Come on." He yelled at her, running out into the hallway.

Bella was out there, no later then ten seconds after Jacob had opened the door, and from there it all happened to fast.

The fire, making its way up the stairs, the smoked that filled the small space. He knew he had to do something or she would die.

That he had to do something before it was to late.

He ran over to her and scooped her up, charging down the stairs Jacob could only hope he made it out in time before the roof collapsed in, something he knew it would do soon.

He made it out of the building, coughing hard.

There were fire trucks and ambulances gathered outside. He ran over to the nearest one and threw her down on the stretcher.

"Please," He said to the paramedic already looking at her. "Is she alright?"

He looked back to his girl on the stretcher.

And was shocked by what he saw.

Then the building behind him crumpled.


	12. Option ONE Chapter 12

**Okay, so, this was the original ending to my story, and I felt like it needed to be rewritten, and tweaked, but I decided to publish both. Both Option One & Two have Chapters 12 & 13 and an epilogue. It's up to the reader how the story ends. Personally, I think Option Two is better. Let me know what you think! **

**OPTION ONE  
><strong>**Chapter Twelve**

_She felt herself being picked up, then darkness._

Bella could feel his arms wrapping around her, she could feel him running with her down the stairs, bringing her to safety.

She could feel it, she really could.

Until she couldn't.

Bella opened her eyes, just in time to see Jacob, running with Rachel down the stairs.

He had chosen Rachel again.

Just after he had made it down the stairs, they collapsed.

Bella, in that moment, knew without a doubt she was going to die. She was not going to make it out of here. Her own weak human body couldn't do it.

And there were going to be no more werewolves or vampires to save her.

No, she was on her own. She was done.

And the last thing she would see was Jacob leaving her behind.

Bella thought, no matter how long away it was, no matter the circumstances, when she died her thoughts would be of Edward. About how much she loved him. How she had missed his absence throughout her life. But they were not. They were about Jacob.

Her Jacob.

She let the memories of them together, before he imprinted, saturate her brain, bringing her body to a sense of unaware. Letting her mind leave behind the bitter feelings that Jacob had left her to die.

She hardly even heard the cracking sound of the ceiling above.

In fact, she would hardly even feel it fall on top of her at all.


	13. OPTION TWO Chapter 12

**And then there's this one...**

**OPTION TWO  
><strong>**Chapter Twelve**

_She felt herself being picked up, then darkness._

Bella could feel his arms wrapping around her, she could feel him running with her down the stairs, bringing her to safety.

She could feel it, she really could.

Until she couldn't.

Bella opened her eyes, just in time to see Jacob, running with Rachel down the stairs.

He had chosen Rachel again.

Just after he had made it down the stairs, they collapsed.

Bella, in that moment, thought she was going to die. There were no werewolves around to save her this time. No vampires. She was on her own. She was going to die alone.

And the last thing she would see was Jacob leaving her behind.

Just like the fire that was burning through the building something sparked in her, it was small and had not been there since she could remember; she was mad.

Not just mad, but angry. She was fucking _pissed off. _And not only with Jacob, and Edward, and Marcy, who was really quite a bitch now that she thought of it, but herself. Because, yeah, a lot of people had walked all over her. Or, more aptly, walked away from her, but she had let them. Not once had she thought that she deserved better, but always _whywhywhyme? _

So now was she just supposed to wait for it to all come crashing down on her; literally?

The room was full of smoke, and she couldn't see anything, but a line from Charlie's incessant nagging of what to do in a fire popped in her head; _stay down, below the smoke. It's your only chance Bells. Only chance._

If she got out of this, she'd have to remember to thank him.

There was a window at the end of the hall that she made her goal. _Get to the window. Get to the window. Access the situation. But you have to get to the window._

It took longer then it seemed possible to go those ten feet. She could smell the burning carpet beneath her hands, and was starting to have doubts about the integrity of the roof but…_get to the window._

When she stood up, nausea swept over her, when she inhaled, trying to get more air, only smoke filled her lungs, causing her to cough.

Her apartment building bordered another, and miraculously hadn't yet caught on fire; she remembered complaining how close they were, the lack of space. And now that she was facing the prospect of jumping the distance, that few feet seemed daunting.

She took off the sweater she was wearing, and rolled it around her fist, breaking out the window, then knocking out the glass on the bottom side of the frame.

"Okay." She said aloud. "Okay."

Bella would have loved to take a minute, or two, to breathe, think about this. To over-analyze as per usual, the roof above her head cracking sped up her thought process.

She clammered into the frame, holding the edges for support, cutting her hand on some of the remaining shards of glass. The size of the window made for an awkward position, and she was trying to get most of her weight on her legs, more power for jumping.

"One, two…" And the roof collapsing made for three.

She jumped into the air, fire flaming from behind, her arms making wild gestures to cling to something in front of her.

And then she was fallingfallingfalling.

Down

Towards

The ground.


	14. OPTION ONE CHAPTER 13

**Just an itty bitty chapter, mostly to get a snippet of Jacob's POV. ALL THAT'S LEFT NOW IS THE EPILOGUE...DUH DU DUH.**

**Chapter Thirteen**

It was Rachel. He had grabbed Rachel…but he had meant to get Bella.

He could remember, standing in that hallway, he could remember thinking _Bella_, he could even remember running towards her, but then he picked up Rachel.

His heart, belonged to Bella. It had taken him until now to see it. But his mind, the thing that imprinted, had taken him to Rachel.

Jacob turned to run back in to get Bella, but the building collapsed.

He stared at it in horror, not understanding what was happening, she couldn't be…there was no way…

"Have you seen her?" Jacob heard a man yelling. "My daughter, did she come out?" It was Charlie. He was in his uniform running around looking for Bella. "Bella? BELLA!" He called, looking desperately.

But Jacob knew it was no use, he felt that it was no use.

There was a woman off to the side, looking into a television camera "Robinson here…"

Marcy was off to the side, crying hysterically, about how the cigarettes were only supposed to help, she never thought they would do this. Right, it was the cigarettes fault.

Bella was gone. His Bella, was gone. And it was his fault.

He as good as killed her.

"Jacob?" Rachel was whispering from the stretcher. "Jacob?" She was blinking and looking around for him.

But Jacob couldn't hear her. He was looking at the building that had just fallen, and taken her with it.


	15. OPTION TWO CHAPTER 13

**Ooorrrrr...**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Her senses were jarred when she hit the balcony ledge.

And what a beautiful, beautiful, ledge it was.

The rest of her apartment building shaking seemed to wake her up, and she got to her feet, still hacking, making it through the window, when the rest of her apartment fell.

It was surreal, that she had made it out. Minutes ago her death seemed immenent, and even scarier then that, like it didn't matter. As if her living or dying didn't matter.

She plundered through the apartment she landed on, down the stairs, out into the street. It was complete mayhem.

The firefighters were racing around, yelling things about head counts, and if everyone had made it out or not. Ambulances were being rushed off and rushed in. Something in the back of her mind registered Charlie running at her, a look of total relief on his face. She even cracked a grin when she saw Cindi Robinson by the news van.

"Bella, are you okay? Bella?" Charlie was shaking her by the shoulders at this point.

"Yeah, yes, I'm fine. Can you stop that though?" She indicated to his hands, which were still moving her back and forth.

"Sorry."

"B-Bella?" She heard someone behind her, and she didn't have to turn around to know who.

But she did anyway.

"I thought…the building collapsed, and I thought—"

"I made it out."

"Good." Jacob managed to croak. "Bella, I'm sorry—I left you there. I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry, and I'm, I'm glad you're okay."

"Jake, it seems like you're always apologizing, and I'm always the one who gets left behind and, well, I'm pretty tired of it."

He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't look away either.

She feels a hand on her shoulder, still Charlie's, but it's reassuring this time.

"I think, I've decided I'm leaving Forks. Leaving Washington all together." Once she said it, it seemed like the right thing to do. The only thing to do. And the first thing that she's done in a long time for herself.

He nods, because he has no right to ask her to stay.

"Bye, Jacob Black."

"Bye, Bella Swan."

She turns around, and while she feels okay, her eyes tear up a little, because moving on; it's hard. It's so damn hard.

"I—I love you though. Still." He shouts to her, Because he's Jacob and he can't help it. He's emotional, and impulsive, and he's Jacob.

She doesn't turn around, but swivels her head to look at him. "It just wasn't enough."

He shakes his head, it's marginal, but there. His acknowledgement that it isn't enough. No matter how badly he wants to change it—he just can't.


	16. OPTION ONE EPILOGUE

**Here's one choice...**

**Epilogue**

Catatonic. That was what Rachel had called him.

She didn't leave him, and he couldn't leave her. No, the imprint thing, it was too strong. They had to be together, even though it made them both miserable.

Jacob had gone to the funeral. He couldn't even cry as they lowered the coffin into the ground. It was a closed casket due to the injuries she had gotten before she died.

Jacob had thrown up when he heard Billy talking about that to Charlie on the phone.

At the funeral Jacob didn't notice too much.

He didn't remember too much of it either.

But he did remember that smell. The bloodsucker was back. He had come back for her funeral, and Jacob couldn't even find it in himself to hate him. It wasn't _his_ fault after all that she had died. No, Jacob got all the credit for that one.

Jacob looked over in his direction. He knew that vampires were monsters, heartless and without souls. But Edward, Jacob brought himself to say, did look heartbroken. He looked like if he had the capability to cry then he would. He looked like he was dead as well.

He also looked mad. His look said _I thought she'd be safe with you. I wouldn't have left if I didn't. _

Jacob would never hear about it, but nineteen hours after Bella's funeral Edward had gone to Italy. And he too no longer existed here on this mortal world.

But then everyone else seemed to forget about what happened, there was a three minute clip about on the news with Cindi Robinson, and they only said there was one casualty, lucky was the word she used. It could have been worse.

Yeah, lucky.

Rachel moved in with him and his dad on the reservation, since her parents had decided to move back to California and she couldn't leave him.

He also had nightmares now, every night, about that day. About running toward her, then picking up Rachel. Those thoughts haunted his nights.

And when Rachel would wake up, getting him a cool cloth, and asking what was the matter, he would only shake his head and roll over. Hating himself for everything he had done. And now, everything he was doing.

But during the day, other thoughts took over his mind. Because he knew, beyond a doubt, he _knew _that Bella had seen him running down the steps with Rachel. He _knew _that she had though he had chosen Rachel over her. And that tore him up inside.

Jacob ran patrols, he went to work, sometimes he went to school. Then he would come home, for deafening silences of things left unsaid.

Even Leah didn't pester him now. His own mind had grown darker then hers, his own thoughts more bitter.

Billy saw the transformation his son had gone through. He wished, without hope, that there was something he could do. But the only person who could help was laying in the Forks cemetery.

It was Jacob's fault Bella had died that day. He knew it, and it wasn't even a thought he bothered to voice out loud. Because anyone who denied it would be kidding themselves.

So yes, it was Bella that had died.

It was Jacob who had murdered her.

And though it was Bella who was gone, it may as well be Jacob, since she had taken such a big part of him with her, it was like he was not here anymore.

It was like there was no _reason _to be here anymore.


	17. OPTION TWO EPILOGUE

**THE END IS NOT NEAR; IT'S HERE. Thanks to all who have reviewed/read/favorited this story! It's been cool to see everyone's response, I hope you like the ending…whichever you pick. And points to anyone who knows which Hawthorne story they are talking about.**

**OH, and I am also planning on publishing a scene mentioned in this story; Bella & Jacob camping. So, keep checking back, for that. I am going to just do it as a new story, instead of an additional chapter. It will be light-hearted, and lemony. **

**Epilogue**

If moving on was hard, then starting over sucked. But in a good way.

Bella ended up in a…quirky community college in New York, because it was on the opposite side of the country, and things were good. Or, they were at least better.

Because she finally felt like she could breath; that of all things, New York was fresh air. She came there, and there were no romances to sweep her off her feet, nobody trying to kill her (other then the tenant below her, with his daily dinner of cooked cabbage.) she could just be.

It had taken a while to make friends, it was only six weeks after she moved in that she dared encroach on one group of Brooklynite's conversation.

"He was totally _trying_ to be ambiguous." One girl said, pushing her thick black-rimmed glasses further up her nose. "It wasn't simple, it was ambiguous you jackass. That's why Hawthorne's brilliant." Her gestures were big, and she was staring the guy who she was arguing with down.

"Well, why not just say what he fucking did!" A guy with mismatching sweater vest and shirt piped up. He too donned the rimmed glasses, but also had a little beanie hat on.

"The protagonist—"

"He was _not _a protagonist. He was a chickenshit. It's easier to hide from your sins—in his case literally—then face them."

"That's not the issue. The issue is Hawthorne's ambiguity, and how your small mind can't seem to appreciate it."

"I just what to know what sin he committed!"

"He might have murdered the girl." Bella had kind of forgotten the sound of her own voice, it had been so long since she had spoken to anyone. The head's of everyone sitting there snapped in Bella's direction. She cleared her throat. "Uh, because, you know, of how ambiguous Hawthorne is, every detail becomes important. And there was the girl's funeral that he went to, so it's plausible he murdered her, and that was the sin he was trying to atone for." Bella, for some reason, felt compelled to use the better side of her vocabulary.

"See," The girl said, gesturing to Bella. "_She_ understands!"

For the rest of that week, Bella spent her time at the coffee place, arguing literature, politics, and the relation of the band members of the White Stripes.

Bella had friends, better yet, she had guy friends. And she had forgotten how fun it could be to just _be_ with people. To not have to watch herself so much.

To not have other's secrets to keep.

So, it was hard, moving on and starting over. But she had wanted to, this time, she chose it.

**And on the other coast…**

The idea had been in Jacob's head all week. He didn't know where it came from, but he couldn't shake it.

And then it took over.

Before he had time to access the consequences from leaving Forks, unannounced, and driving all the way to New York; although what-the-fuck he would say to Bella, he didn't know.

But he found himself, in his car, turning the key in the ignition, looking back at the house where Rachel was now sleeping. But when he looked up again, he saw something he hadn't seen before.

_So now the bloodsucker carries a purse._

That was all he had time to think.

In a flash Edward was barreling around the left side of the car, towards the driver's side, and as Jacob flew out of the car to meet him he heard something crashing in the woods one hundred feet away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Edward, fair to say, seemed pissed.

Jacob tried to summon indignance, but he couldn't. "I don't know."

"I am going to assume," Edward continued. "That your _fiancé _doesn't know about this."

Jacob shook his head. And his saw that there was a missing tire from the front left wheel. So that was what he heard in the woods.

"One time. I am only going to say this one time, leave her alone. Don't go looking for her, if you see her avoid her. Don't even think about her. Between you and me, we've put Bella through enough shit. She doesn't need anymore."

"I just wanted—"

"You don't _get_ to want anything from her. Not anymore. I left, so she could be normal, and then you came along and fucked that all up. I knew I should stop you from the beginning, but didn't. I'm not going to make that mistake twice."

"I though the little one couldn't see my future." Jacob mumbled, looking at his feet.  
>Edward flashed a smile, turned up on one side. "She can't. I'm watching you. Don't forget that."<p>

Jacob felt like he was a child again, as he shut the car door he had left open, and retrieved the keys from the ignition.

"Oh," Edward said, now standing by trees. "And it's called a man-bag."

**I don't know why Edward would be staked out at Jacob's house with a man-bag, but he's kind of bitchin' in that way, so I suppose anything's possible. However, I do have an amusing picture in my heard of him in a lawn chair, with binoculars, eating popcorn, and a ridiculously expensive man-bag possibly with a journal in it? "_Day 164: No Bella related incidences today. Although, he did eat an entire pot roast in less then a minute. Gross."_ Oh that Edward…**


End file.
